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Life After Death: We Can Survive/Issue 1
“Devon! Come on, get the hell up! Now! DEVON!” That was all Devon could make out as he lay on the ground, motionless. Everything else was just faded noise. He could feel every bump in the pavement as it pressed against his bloody arms. It had all happened too fast for any sense to be made of the situation, and all he could do was lay there and think. Devon looked back and saw the reanimated corpses advance towards him. He cringed at the thought of them tearing the flesh from his bones, but he could not move a muscle in his body. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the feeling of sharp, jagged teeth sinking into his skin. The feeling of chunks of his skin being torn out of his leg. The feeling of death. The feeling of freedom. ---- The sky glowed a magnificent purple as the sun slowly descended behind the trees. There was not a cloud in the sky, and as the light began to disappear, so did the warmth that came with it. “It’s gonna go out,” said a young girl mockingly as she sat in the open trunk of a beat up red car. She uncapped the top of a water bottle, and leaned back to take a sip as the dirty blonde hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail swung and hit the backseat of the car. “Nah, just give me a sec,” responded a man in a blue jacket, hunched over a barely-smoldering fire pit. He crumpled up a piece of paper and lit it on fire with his lighter, placing it carefully underneath the wood logs he had placed inside. He waited a few seconds as the flames flickered and began to sizzle out. The wood would not light. Puzzled, the man ran his hand through his messy, dark brown hair and began to stroke his goatee. “It’s just not gonna light; must still be wet from the downpour yesterday. Fuck. I knew I shouldn’t have left them out overnight.” Suddenly, water splashed onto the little bit of fire that was still burning, putting it out. The man turned and saw the girl still spitting water in little bursts. He leaned towards her and made a swatting gesture. “Okay, Leslie, knock that shit off. Why don’t you go walk to the store and buy a chocolate bar or something so I can get this started in peace.” “Well...I’m gonna need some money…” Leslie said, hopping out of the car and holding out her hand. The man sighed. “What happened to all your allowance?” “I’m saving it up, remember? For a car. Or did you forget about that like you did-” “Yeah, okay, I’m sorry. Shit’s just been slipping my mind recently. Anyway, uh...here,” the man pulled out his wallet, retrieved a five dollar bill from it, and placed her hand. “Get me a box of Smarties while you’re there. And I want the change - all of it. If I think you shorted me anything, even a damn cent, I’ll go check the cost myself, and if you did, then I’ll be starting the fire with your candy tonight.” “Not if I eat it first,” the girl said before immediately turning around and hastily walking down the path out of the campsite. Once he saw her turn the corner and disappear behind the thick forest, the man sighed in relief. “Fuckin’ kid,” he muttered to himself as he turned his attention back to the fire. “Now...back to this bullshit.” ---- Leslie trotted down the gravel road, humming to the tune of the song she had playing in her earbuds. As she neared the store at the entrance to the campground, something in the trees to the right of her caught her attention and drew her toward it. She pulled out her earbuds, bent down over it, and admired its beauty. It was a tall, bright, purple colored flower growing in the midst of a plethora of grass, bushes, and trees. Placing her fingers around the base of the flower. she pulled it from the stem. Leslie traced her fingers around the velvet-like petals and clenched her fist around it. However, she was suddenly pulled out of her trance by a bunch of noise coming from the campsite right beside her. Back on the road, she slowly walked past the campsite, but stopped dead in her tracks, in shock. There was an ambulance parked inside, and two paramedics began to wheel a stretcher out from the back of it as an elderly woman stood back, covering her eyes with her hands as she wailed into them. Not wanting to see any more of the situation, Leslie quickly looked away, put an earbud back in, and continued walking down the road. The bell above the door rang as she walked inside the store. It wasn’t anything spectacular; there were a few short aisles filled with all sorts of snacks. From potato chips, to chocolate bars, to bags of candy, to loaves of bread. Along the walls were stacks of logs, ice, fridges full of drinks and frozen snacks, and an ATM. Leslie walked down one of the candy aisles and stared at the surprisingly wide variety of chocolates there were to choose from. She reached for a brand name bar, but paused, and pulled her hand back. After thinking for a moment, she instead decided to grab a cheaper, no-name bar, along with the box of Smarties. She turned and walked over to the cashier. “Good morning, miss,” the young, brunette woman said with a smile as Leslie placed the two items on the counter. “Will this be all?” Leslie did not respond, and instead glanced outside the glass door at the very little she could still see of the ambulance. “I’ll take that as a yes,” the woman said. “Oh, sorry. What was that?” Leslie asked. “Is this everything for you today?” “Oh, yes.” “Alright, your total comes to $2.65,” Leslie placed the bill on the counter and glanced back. The cashier opened the register, placed the bill in, and retrieved her change. “Here you go,” she said, placing the coins in Leslie’s hand. “Are you going to need a bag?” “No, thanks,” Leslie said, taking the two items, placing them in her pocket, and walking back out the door as she slipped one of the dollar coins into her back pocket. “Have a nice day!” the woman said shortly before the door closed. As she walked past the campsite one more time, Leslie couldn’t help but stare. There was now a body on the stretcher, being covered by a white sheet. However, the three people were standing around it, seemingly waiting for something to happen. One of the paramedics bent down and placed an ear over where the face of the body presumably was, but suddenly, the person began to move. The paramedic swiftly pulled the sheet off the person’s face, revealing an old, pale man underneath, with a bloody wound on his arm. Leslie could hear the man moaning and growling through the sound of the music, and took her earbud out. The second paramedic quickly ran into the back of the ambulance as the first one attempted to communicate with the man who was now partially sat-up. However, the man reached out and grabbed the paramedic, pulled him close to him, and bit a chunk of his neck out. Screaming and panicking ensued, and Leslie immediately sprinted down the road. ---- The man was still struggling to get the fire lit. He sat cross legged beside the fire pit with one of the logs in his hand, peeling back the bark in an attempt to get to dry wood. After finally peeling back the entire layer, he lit one more piece of crumpled paper on fire, placed it in the pit, and hovered the log overtop of it. He saw the log slowly begin to light, and was preparing to scream in victory, when all of a sudden he heard Leslie yell his name, causing him to drop the log and smother the fire. “WHAT?” he yelled back as he sprang to his feet. Leslie tossed him his candy and the change minus the dollar she had pocketed. “Oh, uh...thanks. So...what happened out there? I thought I heard sirens.” Leslie stood and stared at the ground in silence. “Well? Did you see what happened or not?” “This old guy...I think he died. They were carting him into the ambulance on a stretcher...and he had a sheet over him, but...then he started making noise. They took the sheet off and he was alive but...he looked dead. He was pale...kind of green. They started freaking out, and one guy tried to calm him down but...then the man...he...he pulled the guy in and...he ate him.” “Oh no, I’m so spooked. Better luck next time, kid.” “I’m not joking, Devon. It was scary. I didn’t know what to do so I just ran. I want to go home...I don’t want to be here anymore.” “Sorry, you’re not getting out of this one. We’ve been planning this trip for months; we do it every year.” “I’m not trying to get out of it! Devon, just listen to me for once!” Devon saw the tears streaming down Leslie’s cheeks and realized she was telling the truth. “You couldn’t fake tears if your life depended on it...okay. I’ll go check things out.” “Please don’t leave me here.” “I guess we could just take the car...okay, hop in the front.” ---- The car slowly glided down the gravel road, the headlights beaming in the darkening sky. “You’d better not be bullshitting me,” Devon said, breaking the silence they had since they got in the vehicle. “I’m not…” Leslie replied. As they approached the campsite, the car slowed down. The two looked out of the right window and could see the old man crouched over the bodies of the two paramedics, ripping out chunks of flesh and muscle and shoving them into his mouth. “Holy shit…” Devon said under his breath. The man looked up and stared at them in the car before gradually beginning to climb to his feet. The man started to inch himself towards the car. “DRIVE!” Leslie screamed, and immediately, Devon slammed his foot on the gas and began to speed away, as the old man continued to follow them down the road. Credits * * * * * (Zombified) *Two unnamed paramedics Deaths *Elderly Man (Alive) *Two unnamed paramedics Trivia *First appearance of Devon Brandt. *First appearance of Leslie Brandt. *First (and last) appearance of the unnamed elderly woman. *First (and last) appearance of the unnamed cashier. *First (and last) appearance of the unnamed elderly man. (Zombified) *First (and last) appearance of unnamed paramedics. Next Issue: Issue 2